Tundra and Moto team up on PowerPC? [Merged with FH thread]
According to an AppleInsider article, Tundra and Motorola are going to team up for a next-gen PowerPC (I thought we already had one-
). Some people have predicted Moto might team up; they did. Interesting. I wonder what they plan to do to compete with the G5 (970?)
Edit: Here's some of the CBC news article:
TORONTO (CP) - Shares in Tundra Semiconductor gained about five per cent Tuesday after the company said it's in negotiations to buy a product line from Motorola Inc. as the U.S. firm restructures.
Tundra CEO Jim Roche said his Ottawa-based company would see a jump in revenue, wider use of its products and more jobs if final agreement is reached on a deal - news of which was "inadvertently" released early by Motorola.
Tundra is interested in Motorola's PowerPC Host Bridge line of computer interconnection technology, in which microchips connect main processors to other systems. Motorola's embedded technology is used in Apple computers and most communications equipment.
The deal would also see Tundra and Motorola co-develop the next generation of products that connect PowerPC microprocessors to peripheral devices.
Tundra's stock (TSX:TUN) jumped more than five per cent after a trading halt, which was put in place before Motorola's announcement, was lifted. In mid-afternoon trading, its shares were up $1 at $18.49.
Roche said a Motorola deal would complement an IBM microchip product line purchased in March that is used by prominent data-storage companies such as Adaptec, HP/Compaq, IBM, Intel and LSI Logic.
The acquisition, if completed, "strengthens our relationship with Motorola, and I think it validates us as a company - in other words, Motorola picked us," Roche said from Ottawa.
"It brings additional revenue into the company and it advances our strategy to be the dominant system interconnect provider by strengthening our base of system interconnect technology."
Roche said Tundra would also increase its workforce, though he wouldn't say how much. A deal is expected within two weeks.
Tundra employs 180 people, about 130 of them in Ottawa, where the company has its headquarters and manufacturing. It also has a design centre in South Portland, Me., and a European sales office in Maidenhead, England.
Read the rest here.
). Some people have predicted Moto might team up; they did. Interesting. I wonder what they plan to do to compete with the G5 (970?)Edit: Here's some of the CBC news article:
TORONTO (CP) - Shares in Tundra Semiconductor gained about five per cent Tuesday after the company said it's in negotiations to buy a product line from Motorola Inc. as the U.S. firm restructures.
Tundra CEO Jim Roche said his Ottawa-based company would see a jump in revenue, wider use of its products and more jobs if final agreement is reached on a deal - news of which was "inadvertently" released early by Motorola.
Tundra is interested in Motorola's PowerPC Host Bridge line of computer interconnection technology, in which microchips connect main processors to other systems. Motorola's embedded technology is used in Apple computers and most communications equipment.
The deal would also see Tundra and Motorola co-develop the next generation of products that connect PowerPC microprocessors to peripheral devices.
Tundra's stock (TSX:TUN) jumped more than five per cent after a trading halt, which was put in place before Motorola's announcement, was lifted. In mid-afternoon trading, its shares were up $1 at $18.49.
Roche said a Motorola deal would complement an IBM microchip product line purchased in March that is used by prominent data-storage companies such as Adaptec, HP/Compaq, IBM, Intel and LSI Logic.
The acquisition, if completed, "strengthens our relationship with Motorola, and I think it validates us as a company - in other words, Motorola picked us," Roche said from Ottawa.
"It brings additional revenue into the company and it advances our strategy to be the dominant system interconnect provider by strengthening our base of system interconnect technology."
Roche said Tundra would also increase its workforce, though he wouldn't say how much. A deal is expected within two weeks.
Tundra employs 180 people, about 130 of them in Ottawa, where the company has its headquarters and manufacturing. It also has a design centre in South Portland, Me., and a European sales office in Maidenhead, England.
Read the rest here.
Comments
Looks like they may be selling off a small part, but this does bring up the question of their overall commitment to semiconductor manufacturing (since they don't make money on it).
Tundra buying MPC10x core logic chipsets (essentially memory controllers) is not that big of a deal. Moto long ago stopped work on system logic or core logic chipset development, and left that sort of work to Tundra and others anyways. With RapidIO, it pretty much become irrelevant. I still think RapidIO is the big reason why they never put in the work to make the MPX bus a DDR bus - it provided competition for RapidIO.
The time is about ripe for Apple to start cherry picking whatever PowerPC talent is left at Motorola though. One also wonders what the fate of CodeWarrior will be.
I don't really see how this has anything to do with developing PowerPCs, or with Apple at all. This is one product line being sold, not SPS or even a chunk of SPS; it's an old product line of interest to embedded users; and neither it nor any Tundra or Motorola bridge chip is used by Apple. Apple have always designed their own interfaces to the G4 (which have been consistently superior to Motorola's own).
This is Motorola SPS spinning off a bit of excess baggage in order to focus itself, and pocketing a bit of change in the bargain. I don't see any long term ramifications.